


The Shortest Path

by zafiro



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-01-22 16:56:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21305438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zafiro/pseuds/zafiro
Summary: Squalo ponders. If a Vongola Sky put Boss on ice, a Vongola Sky can get him out, right?
Comments: 30
Kudos: 448





	1. Chapter 1

1

For a swordsman, being disrespectful to one's sword is the highest of taboos. Yet, Squalo can't bring himself to stop gracelessly hacking at the wooden dummy.

He has feelings. All of them about the last few months. 

Everything is _wrong_. 

The invasion resulted to be not exactly one. It failed horribly. The mansión was prepared, which meant a spy. A highly placed one in the Varia. 

He learned shockings truth of the main family. The adoption, Nono being a shameless liar. 

The Varia was beingmonitored. 

Boss, his Sky, trapped in a unbreakable block of ice. 

He couldn't do anything. He had a headache and his stomach hurt. 

He was. _Hack._

So fucking tired. _Hack._

Squalo resopled and swung his sword high with the intentation to throw it as far away as possible but his pride stopped him. 

He frowned and sat ungracelesslyq on the floor, his sword at his knees. _Thinking_. 

_What did he want? What did he have? _

He wanted Boss. Free. 

He had himself. The Varia. 

_What did he need? Where can he get it? _

He needed to break the ice. He needed a Vongola Sky. 

But...

Nono was the only Vongola Sky that could do that fucking technic. Boss brothers didn't know it and had never had the inclination to learn or the strength for that matter. 

He had tried to subtley question Enrico, the strongest of the three but it hadn't been fruitful. He had been warned to stay his ground for now and to the fact that only Nono was able to free Boss. 

Unless Nono had a real hidden sky child hanging around as a spare... 

Squalo was stuck at that point. 

No matter how powerful was the Varia, if they didn't had a Vongola Sky on their side capable of learning the Zero Point Breakthrough they would never be able to free Boss. 

He was _stuck_. 

Incapable of doing more. 

Between a rock and a hard place. What with CEDEF breathing down their neck. Sniffing around everywhere, being a real nuisance. _Stupid_ useless Sawada. Fucking Young Lion who didn't know when to stop pushing. 

Fucking Sawada. 

Fucking... 

Sawada. 

_Sawada...._

Nono didn't had another child lying around.. 

But, hadn't there been a rumour a few years back about Sawada getting married? 

And Sawada was a strong Sky. He was from the main Vongola line. If he had a hidden child lying around... The possibility of that child being a _Sky... _

_If that child existed and if that child was a Sky... _

His mouth twitched. He refused to smile, it was still too soon. 

This was a job for Mammon.


	2. Chapter 2

It was pitifuly easy to find the hidden family of the Young Lion of the Vongola. One look at the child and Squalo knew this was_ it._

It was even more easy to fool the security. And by security he meant the air because there was nothing there. Apparently the idiot CEDEF Head taught annonimity was the key. How disgustingly naive of him.

It was even more painfully easy to take the child with them. A little brainwashing with mist flames on the mother. Get the child to sleep and hop on their plane towards Italy. Just like that. Even Mammon felt insulted. 

Now, Squalo was with a tiny squeaky child. Trying to bond and shit because he needed the snot nosed brat to learn a technic noone but the Boss of the strongest Mafia Family in the world knew how to do.

Said child was trembling a little and choking on a glass of water. The last remanents of sleep were leaving his little head.

"You awake now?" asked Squalo in Japanese, modulating the volume of his voice. It was important not to startle him, he mentally reminded himself.

A mop of brown head nodded and breathed a quiet yes.

"I'm Squalo Superbi of the Varia. I'm gonna be real sincere with you here, brat. We're mafia. And by we, I mean you and me. And by mafia I mean that we are criminals, breakers of the law."

The child gave a tiny squeak.

"Yes. Your father is in the mafia, apparently you're mother knows nothing about it. You're here because we took you. Because I need you're help to free my Boss."

The boys eye's winded and he seemed to forget his wariness in an instant.

"Me? But, I'm not good at things. They.. call me useless."

"It doesn't matter what anyone used to call you. You are in the Varia now and there is only _quality_ here. If I say you can help Boss then it means that you can be quality. You're a child and you can learn. And when you help me free the Boss you can leave if you want"

"But, how can I help? I'm just... a child."

"You are of Vongola blood. That means you are powerful and it means you can learn to do something that will free Boss."

The Sawada boy frowned and tilted his head. It was surprisingly adorable.

"Is your Boss your friend Squalo-san?"

Squalo opened his mouth to say yes and closed it an instant later. He remembered a bit about the famed Vongola intuition and decided to expand a little but still say something the child would understand.

He put himself on his knees in front of the surprised boy and spoke without averting his gaze from the boys eyes.

"Boss is... The most important person to me in my whole life. I would do anything for him. Can you please, help me have him next to me again Tsunayoshi?"

There was a distant humming sound in Squalo's ears. The eyes of the child were as brown as chocolate and as endless as the deepest part of a raging ocean.

The boys smile was like honeyed tea, warm and sweet.

"I'll help you. He'll be with you again and we'll all be friends."

Tsunayoshi's words rang with thruth, as if they came from a prophet's mouth. And maybe they did. Maybe he had finally found all the answers to his problems in a forgotten Japanese town.

"Altought" the boy frowned and Squalo was stuck in the floor blinking away the dizzines from his head "I'd be really worried if mom doesn't know where I am. Can we call her and tell her I'm okay? And how much time have I been here? Where are we? Is this you're house? Do you have food? I'm a little hungry. I want apple juice, could I have some? Will I live here? Hibari-san is gonna be real mad if I skip school. Will I stop going to school Squalo-san?"

Squalo had another bout of dizziness for entire different reasons. And even though he wanted to throw the whole everything on someone else's hands he knew he had to come through and explain everything else properly.

He prepared himself for a long talk and moved to sit on the other side of the black couch the boy was sitting on.

"Alright Tsunayoshi, let's talk."

"Ah, Tsuna is fine Squalo-San!" squeaked the child. 

The swordsman gestured to the various drinks and snacks on the trolley next to them.

"Well Tsuna, let's grab something and talk about what happens from now on."

It was after the drinks and the foods, after the talk and the questions. It was after he introduced the boy to Lussuria and Mammon, the most trustworthy (the most sensible ones) of his man. It was after they went to sleep and Squalo lay on his bed thinking about his future plans that he really thought about it.

The young brat wasn't as bad as he had initially thought, knowing who he came from.

Heck, he had met mafia Bosses with less fortitude than that Sawada boy.

The next few years were going to be quite eventful.

Squalo pondered for a few minutes if he should be glad or terrified. Then, he decided he should go to sleep and take it as it came. If he was going to have Boss at the end of it all then it would all be worth it.

_Right_?


	3. Chapter 3

3.

It took them a couple of days to realize the extent in which the seal worked in the child. That, Squalo thought, must be the reason why the idiot advisor and Nono were so fucking happy lo leave well alone. With his flames sealed, the boy couldn't possibly compete for the Decimo position against the other young man and would never call attention to himself. 

(It's a testament to Mammons skills that he was able to know the child was a Sky even with a seal in place, how the heck did Mammon... ? ) 

It's surprising to find a child this young to have already manifested his flames. To need a seal to be placed on him. 

Stupid Powerful Vongola Legacy. 

It made Squalo uncomfortable to see such a seal in a child so young. Those things were supoussed to be used on people that were a danger to themselves or others. It was used on the crazies that for one rearon or another weren't to sent to jail. Just the damage in coordination alone would limit the future of the brat in any civilian life. And the long term effects... 

Well. From a certain point of view he was helping the kid, he thought, and gave himself a mental pat in the back. Then, he gave a push to the little child and threw him from a third story balcony. 

The boy squeaked loudly and burst into tiny flames at the half of the first floor. He descended slowly and stopped at the grass level. 

With wide eyes filled with tears he fell again with a splash. The grass was actually one of the pools in the Varía state covered with mist flames courtesy of Mammon. 

Ahh, civilians, they were so easy to trick. 

After they figured out the seal, Squalo created and proceeded with the plan 'Scare the Flames out of the Brat'. 

It took a considerable amount of money (they had spent more money on less worthy causes) and some weeks for Lussuria to convince Verde to examine the child and come up with the necessary data that'd tell them how to weaken the seal. 

Thankfully, according to Verde, the flames hadn't been trapped for too long. There were still holes that could be exploited. Had more years passed by they would have been covered with the seal and the process of breaking it would have been even more difficult and dangerous. 

And so, Squalo had spent the last few months scaring little Tsu-kun. There had been advance at first but then they seemed to hit a block a few days back. A little extra something would probably be needed. 

One afternoon he discussed it with Lussuria. 

"... So, even thought he is not malnourished, Tsuna-kun would greatily benefit with a well rounded diet. Coupled with the training exercises he has been learning with the noobs he'll begin developing quite nicely. Anything apart from that is a question of attitude. And bonds." 

"Yes, better training will get us stronger controlled flames in the long run. Anything else?" 

"He needs friends!" chirped the flamboyant man. 

"... Ughhhh..." groaned Squalo, unable to refute. The littlest Vongola was sure to need guardians to strengthen his own flames and be able to manage the Zero Point technic. It was time to introduce the youngest Varia members. Apart from Bel, there were a couple that could be useful and might get along with the brat. If nothing amounted from that, Squalo was sure he could find something worthwhile in the forgotten riff raff of the Italian mafia without drawing attention to the Varia. 

He had already enough on his hands.

The others Famiglias had already noticed Xanxus absence in all Varia and Vongola related things and with Nono refusing to offer an explanation they had already drawn their own conclusions. 

There had been two assassination attempts on Nono, one on his mother Daniela Ottava and one on Federico. 

The other famiglias were circling around searching for weaknesses to exploit. He was proud that Boss desapearance unlocked all those attempts, for it meant that Boss presence was so dominant that all those low lifes would only dare to act when he was away. And on the contrary, he was completely annoyed that the old bat still refused to even talk about his frozen son. 

The fucking Vongola coward was avoiding all of it and abusing his position to avoid making a decision regarding his youngest son. 

It was the lowest of the low to leave your opponent on such a position. 

Not killing him, not laying a punishment. 

Just.

Frozen.

Forever like that. 

Squalo gritted his theet again, clenching his fist over the hilt of his sword. 

He'd make the brat as strong as he could as quickly as possible. 

He'd forge him anew into a scorching torch that would melt the frozen prision of his Boss. 

And when Xanxus Di Vongola was safe again into the Varia folds, they would make Vongola tremble for daring to touch what was not theirs to take. 


	4. Chapter 4

4.

It turned out, most of everyone in the Varia he introduced the boy to, developed a soft spot for him.

Double Gio, sniper and short dagger expert, took the time to teach the brat how to properly throw the knives Belphegor had gifted him.

Mind you, Bel had thrown the knives at him and the little brat had done his best to avoid all of them, but after that, the prince had said he could keep them as his welcoming gift. That was generous of him, they were very well made and of good quality.

Aww, his two youngest brats were already bonding!

Stephano and Angela Nero had also been quite taken with the kid and decided to bring him sweets and little trinckets whenever they had missions. Tsuna-boy had already a little pile of gifts on his room.

Anyway, Squalo was also really pleased with the little Vongola.

The boy had turned out to be exactly what he needed. He was a hard worker when given the right direction, even on dinner or in rest time he would be found making the little exercises recommended to refine the control of one’s own flames.

And that’s without talking about the hidden purity of his flames that could barely be felt whenever the boy managed to make them manifest. That beatiful flames were there and he wouldn’t be called Superbi if he didn’t make them shine as they were suppoused to.

Another Varia assassin, Burning Stella, had been making Squalo the favour of gathering youths close to Varia members and promising talents that could be easily ‘lost’. It was after all, not the right time to call attention to themselves and what he was trying to do. The CEDEF and rival famiglias would jump at the chance to squash Squalo’s little project.

Tensions among the mafia were still in a raising high scheduled to explode sometime in the future, and Squalo pretended to keep the Varia out of it until given a direct order. He would not allow the Varia to be make a scapegoat.

Anyway, the new batch of children showed some more promise than the last. There was a blonde girl a little older than the brat that could already produce a good looking sun flame and was friendly with him. A young man with a sloppy sword form but an obedient personality and he was a rain to boot. A gutsy baby storm hitman just making a name for himself and picking fights with Varia members. And there was also a pair of twin brothers with wisps of cloud flames and a extensive knowledge of martial arts.

Even if the brat didn’t bond properly with any of them, at least the Varia would get those that showed most promise. Win-win for everyone.

Thought, lately Squalo worried about the mental health of the little Sky. Recently he had been jumping at shadows and looking worriedly and weirdely at certains corners, as if looking at something that wasn’t there.

But Squalo was much too busy to pay proper attention to it. That was why had subordinates that were paid really well and could not complain when told to look into it and handle the matter accordingly.

He already had to fullfil the duties of the Varia Boss and his own duties as the right hand man of the Varia. He couldn’t afford to deal with it.

In restropective, he probably should have taken a few minutes of his day to deal with it.

But hindsight is 20/20.

And Viper loved money too much to not agree to let another Acrobaleno into their turf to badger their little project when paid handsomely enough.

When Squalo succesfully managed to handle the situation he came to know a bit of the details. Apparently the Lightning Acrobaleno wanted an update on the case of the Sealed Flames but asking like a normal personal was too plebian and so, he decided to sent his minions clothed in invisible camouflage that could only be seen by children to stalk little Tsunayoshi and document the progress of his flames and the deteriority of the seal.

It had all ensued on a big fight in the west courtyard of the mansion, two training grounds were destroyed and Tsuna succesfully used the Vongola Hyper Intuition on the fight defeating all of Verde’s subordinates.

Saddly, this just, somehow, managed to develop on the brat talking about feelings or some such nonesense with the Lightning.

Now, he had to reconstruct a part of the mansion.

Retrain all of the Varia members that didn’t notice the stalkers, reprimend the ones that did but decided it was much too bothersome do something about it and calmly stayed back and watched the show from the sidelines.

Reassure the other young trainees that no, the Varia did _not_ tried to gaslighting them with people stuck on the walls, pretended they could’t see them to watch their reaction and if they saw something like that they definitly had to report it to a superior officer.

He had to make Viper stop _hugging_ his ingots of gold and help him control the situation.

He sighed heavily.

By this point, he doubted he could.

The brat and the other acrobaleno were seated on garden chairs, both drinking tea in contemplation while the remanents of the man’s destroyed robots throwed their last sparks.

The lightning didn’t look like he was going anywhere.


	5. Chapter 5

5

Squalo felt conflicted.

On one hand, the child in which he had deposited his hopes for Boss’s freedom had a shinning fledgling Storm bond. This surprising new development, according to Verde, had helped loosen some more of the seal in the boy’s flames.

An althought the chains keeping his flames contained had began the proccess of deterioration, there was still some time before they were truly free. It will be years, theorized the Lightning Acrobaleno, before the little Sky could make use of them as any other flame active could.

He was not a moral man, and he was not charitable or kind. He was an assassin and mafia. His body count numbered in the hundreds and kept raising every year.

But. Ohh! How he wished for karma to arrive early in the lives of Vongola Nono and the Young Lion. In that satisfaying moment, he will laugh, in their faces.

Aaaaand, on the other hand… On the other hand, some rooms of the Varia main building were missing vital spots because of the uncontrollable explosive storm brat.

And actually, dynamite? But, why? What was wrong with a nice sword, or knives, something that used bullets at least. Even his fists were passable. Not, not something that made the walls of his buildings crumble.

Why couldn’t the boy choose the nice sun flame user? She was a girl, little girls were supposed to be nice, weren’t they?

Squalo sighed, kicked some of the stones away from his path until he arrived next to the fluffy sky hovering over the battered little storm. They were standing in the remnants of the second North entrance. He glared at them both.

Tsuna broke easily. His little hands pulled on his tailored Varia vest worn by the rookies and with tears in his eyes he began the latest tale of ‘why their home was missing pieces’.

“Squalo-nii, I’m so sorry! I’m sure Hayato-kun didn’t mean to, to, made a mess. He just doesn’t know how to use his explosives yet. He said he was, changing the formula and that was why some are more strong than others, so please, please don’t get mad! –the child pleaded for the other boy- It’s just, some of the Storm division were being _mean_ to him. They called him names, and they said- ”

The Storm growled and interrupted the other brat with some curse words only street people ever learned. “ …And they deserved it! They can say shit about me but how dare they talk in such language about the Baby Boss! Those … ” And then he desended in even more creative curses while shaking his closed fist in the air in a clearly menacing way towards some knocked out Varia officers on the other side of the room.

The little Sky blushed in distress and hesitated at the foul language of the other boy. He had tried to better the way the Storm expressed himself in other ocassions without much success. He sighed but only managed to protest about a little part of the other boy’s rant. “Please don’t call me that Hayato-kun!”

“I have told you before, little Storm brat, I don’t appreciate the enthusiastic way in which you destroy Varia property without reserve!” Squalo told him with clenched teeth “You can fight in the designated training areas but if I ever catch you destroying something again, even a door or a little plotted plant… you’ll be lucky If I allow you to _wave_ at Tsuna-boy from a hundred meters distance.”

To storm paled and swayed a little. The other boy hurried and managed to held him, he also looked a little pale and worried.

“I’m actually very sorry Squalo-nii, Hayato-kun is sorry too! We… we’ll help clean all this, I swear!”

Next to him, the air rippled and a floating figure appeared. Tsuna-boy paled a bit more and began sweating. Ah! What an amusing sight! Squalo managed to hold his smile and kept his frowning, disaproving face.

“ …Little sky, eighty porcent of the costs repairs will be added to your current debt” said Mammon.

The Baby Sky seemed to plunge into darkness. His debts to the Mist had skyrocketed when he began bonding with the Storm boy.

“But I’m just a child, why must I have debt?” cried the boy to the floating Mist.

“I’m being nice, I’m not charging you for the material, only for a portion of the manual labor”

The storm kneeled and clutched the vest of the other boy “I swear I’ll pay for this Baby Boss, I’ll kill some people and gather the money!”

“No!” The little sky cried more in dispair and also kneeled on the floor. “And I told you to stop calling me that!”

“But Baby Boss, Xanxus di Vongola is the Varia Boss! I can’t call you just Boss even if you are my Boss because it would be disrespectful while we are living here!”

Little Tsuna’s face was making a very amusing thing that made Squalo laugh a little, fortunately noone was paying him attention because it was then that a big humanoid robot entered from the hole in the destroyed door. The little figure of the Lightning Acrobaleno jumped from it and expressed his disappointment of not being able to make a great entrance because a hole was already made there.

“I’ll double your entrance fee to the Varia building for bringing that monstrosity with you” complained the Mist Acrobaleno, signaling Verde’s robot.

“Mhm, I have no time to spent on you” the Lightning went towards the children. He saw their faces and hesitated. After a moment’s thought he pated Tsuna-boy akwardly in the head and said “There, there”.

The swordman gaped and almost burst into surprised laughter at the same time.

The Little Sky hugged the Baby Acrobaleno and launched onto the tale of the destroyed door. The Storm tried to separate them growling about how it wasn't his fault, Mammon floated next to them insisting on his payment and scolding the Storm about how yes, it _really_ was his fault.

The othe Varia officers had already woken up, and cowed by Squalo’s glare that promised extra training, began clearing the room silently.

The Scientist managed to free himself from the hug by promising to help them clean with his robot and rebuild the destroyed bits just so the sky would _stop_ crying all over him. He also promised to take a look at the storm’s explosives and help him adjust the formula.

“Free manual labor!” Mammon’s eyes twinkled at that part of the promise and he eyed the pair radiating mischief with his whole body.

“Thank you Verde-san! I love you!” The Baby Sky went for another hug and the Lightning grumbled about how he was losing valuable time that could be used for experiments on the boy’s flames.

But he didn’t remove himself from the hug a second time.

Mhhm.. that almost looked like… No, no, that wasn’t possible, that was an Acrobaleno, surely… Tsuna was just a little child, he had his flames sealed, and that was the Lightning Acrobaleno… Surely, surely that _wasn’t_… That wasn’t, right?... _Right?..._

Squalo pinched the bridge of his nose.

On the bright side, the storm wasn’t all that useless if he could take by surprise some Varia officers, the Lightning Acrobaleno would help to dimish the destroying power of the storm’s explosives and the Baby Sky was bound to learn some street curses.

_Shut up_, curses were vital for italian mafioso, ok?


	6. Chapter 6

6

The tension in the families finally exploded a sunny day in Tuscany.

Derived from a drunken argument, a gunfight that lasted three hours and destroyed several buildings initiated an all out war of twelve days.

Many died on those days. Enrico, one of Nono's sons died on the thirthy-eight hour. At hearing the news, Squalo grinned for days.

His Boss didn't had any particular strong feelings towards his so called brothers. To begin with, the age difference had not helped at all. They had never been able to relate to each other. The three brothers seemed to take Xanxus adoption as a huge afront towards their inheritance rights, and had never hide their disdaind towards who they considered nothing more than a smear in their perfect Vongola blood.

Squalo, being a Superbi, had never understood that kind of boxed thinking.

His family had always taken in any talent with a drop of their blood. As long as they were useful or capable at their chosen field, they were part of the family and noone else could voice their opinion. After all, anything that could bring more capital towards the main family was appreciated.

"Yes mom, I'm glad you're fine too. Oh? The camping trip? What camping...? Ahh, yes, yes, of course, I know about the camping trip. Yes, I went there, it was real fun and, mhhmm, I made lots of friends too" From his comfy couch in one of the Varia lounges, Squalo watched the little child he had raised for a while now keep liying almost effortlessly to his mother.

It's been a little past a year since the little Sky came into their fold. Well, more like he was forcefully inducted but who is keeping track, right?

After constant training the boy had become proficient enough to manage minor missions from the Varia. His hard work in martial arts and his though determination had made him able to use a bit of his flames while fighting hand to hand. It seemed the boy would be a short range fighter for life. It was good that Bell kept insisting that the boy kept practicing with knives, that way he would have little plus in long range until he managed to use more of his flames.

The boy kept talking softly on the phone. “ …I’m glad Miss. Tomoe’s cat is better. Did you went to your dentist appointment?... “ Sometimes, the swordman wondered who was the adult in that mother-son relationship.

When the boy came, they had talked long and hard about his family situation. Squalo had decided to keep the woman in the mist’s clutches about her son’s whereabouts and had the boy ocassionally call her to set in her mind an idea of where he was supposed to be. That way, if the Young Lion called he would have the wrong impression. But it looked the little child was right, he had confessed with a little blush that it had been years since had seen the man or talked to him on the phone. The man had yet to notice anything amiss in his family.

And even if the swordman recognized how lucky it was for him and his plans, a tiny part of him longed to see the face the mafioso would pull when he finally noticed his son had been in the Varia for years. As a Superbi, he had already decided to keep the child with them for a long while.

And anyway, it seemed the Lightning Acrobaleno had already latched onto the child. Even if the man found them out tomorrow, the little Sky would have nowhere to hide from the enthusiastic scientist.

Sometimes Verde would come or he would take Tsuna with him for a while to have him help with his experiments. Fortunately, his minions were loyal and knew how to keep their mouth shut and the mafia world seemed to think the Acrobaleno had a passing interest in using Varia recruits as guinea pigs. They had yet to take any interest in the little Sky recruit, just like the swordman wanted.

And the aftermath of the final great fight between the families had managed to hide Tsuna’s existance even more than before.

A ceassfire and a temporary alliance had to be agreed upon. The only problem was that almost none of the families wanted to cough out enough money to repair the city or were protesting about the dimension of their liability. Trust mafia man to be greedy enough to don’t want to take responsability for their actions.

Fortunately, Squalo was rising the child well and he was sure he wouldn’t be like those irrationaly useless mafioso. Even more, he had already gained his first nickname. Thought why it was “The Noble Youngster”, he had no idea, that child could be quite vicious when he wanted to.

And now that he thought about it, he had a new reconnaissance mission for him. Normally, the Varia would dismiss those low quality missions but they were useful for little Tsuna’s training. And it was even one tailored for a cute child just like him!

After he finished his phone call he would send him on the new quest. Investigating missing children taken in the night couldn’t be too difficult for their littlest member.

* * *

In a dark damp alley there was a child dragging his feet. He was trembling all over and his cheeks were smeared with dirty tears, at first glance it was obvious he headn’t had a bath in days and his clothes were too big to be his own.

The child tripped and let out a little yelp full of dispair.

He cried on the floor for a few seconds and then he got off the ground sniffling quietly. He kept walking silently for a while until a noise startled him.

The boy froze up at the squeaky sounds, they came from two pairs of black shiny shoes attached to a pair of men clad in black suits.

“Hi there, little boy. Are you lost? Where are your mom and dad?” asked the shortest man, he looked a little nervous.

He looked so suspicious that the child took a few steps behind.

“Hey, hey! No need of that!” said the other man. But he was taller than the other and looked more frightening than the first one that talked to thim.

“Idiot… ” Hissed the man to the taller one “You’re scaring him, I told you I’d do the talking this time… “ The tallest man made a face at him, but kept quiet.

The shortest man tried talking soothingly to the child, but there was still a mocking tone on his voice “Are you here alone? We just want to help you child. You need help, right? It must be awful, being in such a dark and dirty place, uh?”

The child looked at them with wide brown eyes. He mumbled softly “It’s s… scary.”

The man latched onto it “Yes! Yes it is. So scary. You don’t know what else can come out of the shadows at night! There are bugs, and rats, and there are awful scary monters. Aren’t I right, Angelo?” He hit the other man in the arm.

“Ouch!, Ahh, yeah, of course. Big, awful monters that eat children every day!”

The little boy trembled at those words and inched a little closer to them, the shortest man tried to contain his smile.

“That’s why I’m worried about you. We just wanna help you. What’s your name?” He asked and the child responded timidly. His name was Luca.

The man extended his arm beconing for the child to come closer but the little one hesitated.

“You must be hungry, right Luca?”

The child looked surprised and nodded hurriedly.

The shortest man hit the other again. The man called Angelo complained but he produced a backpack from behind him and took different boxes and bags.

“Look, we have some things that you can eat!” The man waved the things in front of him, tempting the child.

Luca inched more steps closer but he was still a little far from them.

The man frowned and moved his hand towards his companion, he took more things from the backpack and showed them to the child.

Among the there was a colorful little box hat seemed to take Luca’s attention.

"Hieee!! Is that... Pocky!?" the child seemed to jump and ran towards the men. He took the box and opened it hurriedly, soon, there was a chocolate stick on his mouth.

Angelo grinned and the other man took the child’s hand and led him towards their car. They were finished for the night.

Minutes later, on the deserted alley, only the yells of a little angry boy calling for the 'Baby Boss' echoed in the dirty walls.

* * *

In the outside, the simple building looked old and oxidated. It was clearly an abandoned place full of crashed vehicles. But once they entered, the child could see it was all white floor and walls. The ceiling were full of brilliant lights and the elevator kept gpind down and down.

The boy kept munching on the chocolate sticks while being carried by the man called Angelo.

They passed people in white coats and many corridors and doors until they reached a small room with little people. There were a couple of beds an another child was silently sitting in one of them.

“Marco, you found another one I see, good job!” the short man was praised by what looked like a scruffy doctor.

“All for the family!” exclaimed Marco, and gestured for Angelo to put the child in one of the chairs next to them. The tall man hesitated and saw how Marco and the doctor began to talk among themselves. It was clearly a conversation that was not to be understood by the child if all the disturbing medical talk was any sign. Angelo put the little child in the other child’s bed, he gazed at the doctor but when he saw he didn’t protest he shrugged his shoulders and went to join the conversation.

Luca had been watching the doctor intently but when he was left on the bed he looked away and observed the other child. His long blue hair glowed under the lamps. His head was bowed and he wasn’t moving at all.

The child decided he didn’t like that. He bumped the skinny child’s shoulder with his own. When the other focused his face on his he extended a chocolate stick towards him.

The child with blue hair didn’t talk, but after a moment he took the stick and imitating the brown haired boy he put it on his dried lips.

The new child smiled with all teeth and bit in half the stick in his mouth. His eyes shined orange and he said to the other child “You wanna play with?”

Two eyes of different color widened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After managing to be homeless and jobless right before x-mas someone suggested to me to make a ko-fi page, so, If you want to donate to my continued existence feel free to do it here, any little help is appreciated thanks!: 
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/zafirosg
> 
> Oh! And here is my new FB if you guys are interested!: https://www.facebook.com/Zafirosg-102852041768436


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